How has no one made the comparison between the end and Little Bill's murder-suicide yet?

Like I said in my initial reaction to the movie, I think that some of the laughter was simply out of pure joy of watching the performances. I can't imagine why anyone would laugh HYSTERICALLY like Astrostic and JG's people there, but it's not just that it goes from hysterical to terrifying. It's that, along the way, it's absolutely absurd. As I recall, the shot of the bowling alley is one of the first shots inside Plainview's mansion, if not THE first. And I think it was met with some laughter because it makes no sense showing it to us when, like Terry Gross said, we see nothing of anyone's pleasures; we don't know why we're seeing it until later. So it makes sense to laugh in the final scene because it's an odd place for a scene like that to be staged and why it works so beautifully.

But the absurdity of the placement, coupled with the fact that you're watching two great actors really working out on screen, and the fact that the characters they portray are so compelling, AND that it's the final showdown... well, I wouldn't write off everyone who laughed as inappropriate; I don't recall laughing during the end myself but I do recall being filled with such energy that I just wanted to scream in an astonished, "I can't believe what I'm seeing" way. I bet some people laughed to relieve that same energy.

i don't know if the whole scene was meant to be funnybut lines like "Those areas have been drilled", after Eli totally humiliates himself, were.like Brad says, it's a weird dichotomy of humor and horror show.and i guess people laughed because of the whole absurdity of it all.i mostly just stayed quiet and took it all in.. i'm dying to see it all again.

the movie definitely took a complete left turn tone wise near the end.but i think it was, like others have said, intentional. everything is reversed from 1927 on, from Plainview's relationship with H.W. to Eli's complete role-reversal.to say that the last 25 minutes of the film was slow, dragged on, didn't make sense, "jumped the shark" is totally missing the point.and i still can't get over that Brahms inclusion. what a perfect piece of music to end a movie with.

The last scene was definitely a mix of humor and horror. It's my favorite from the movie. Interesting how people think it's poorly executed or the tone is uneven. When he throws the pins at Eli it might be what you'd see two kids doing on the playground. One is scared shitless of the other, etc. To me the last scene just builds and builds, I love it. I would like to see the movie again just for that scene.

you're right sparrow, i was gonna point the little bill thing out. maybe cos i listened to it recently, but pta points out in his boogie nights commentary that he was freaking out at the test screening cos everyone was cheering and having a good time during the murder scene. then macy shoots himself, and they shut the fuck up.

its still a question of people not knowing how to react to some of pta's stuff. he's clearly walking some strange line in his movies. i still don't know if the laughing that went down at the theater that night was what pta would've wanted, but i think it says something about his writing.

i think when theres a certain energy to the room.. an almost giddy energy.. one like we experienced in NYC.. people are going to react wildly to things when sitting at home they probably wouldn't do. it's just the atmosphere.. a lot of those scenes were more chilling than funny but a couple people start laughing and it's just contagious, a buncha PTA film nerds laughing nervously cause their idol will be in shortly, i don't know.

its funny because for me, i'm not religious.. so i'm essentially rooting for daniel because he's just running a business and he wants a monopoly on the oil, here's some jesus freak trying to brainwash him.. so anyway, it's interesting how i can take his side and laugh with him while he mocks him... and then you sit there kinda motionless when he bashes eli's skull with a solid wood bowling pin. so i think the Little Bill parallels are definitely there..

I think it's super annoying in general when people laugh at things, it's very distracting and can ruin your private moment. but that is the risk you take everytime you go to a theater or a show or anything that involves having private experiences in a public setting, at its best it can be almost spiritual, at its worst it can be tainted. however, if they're not heckling, if the audience is simply having a different reaction (as opposed to consciously trying to shit on everyone else's experience by bringing attention to themselves) and are not breaking any moral code (like laughing at a racist joke or clapping during a jingoistic speech) then unforunately it is completely within their rights to laugh outloud or whatever. I personally hate it when they do, I've seen each Wes Anderson film four times (dunno why but that's always the number) in the theater, just to experience all of my favorite scenes without the guffaws at least once, but I don't retaliate against the ones that do ruin the scenes for me because they can't help it.

What's interesting is that the ending was originally intercut with a long sequence of h dubya's marriage. The scene works better without it imo. "can't hear you, in the back" -- that is fucking classic.

And on the question of is this PTA's best film to date...I'd say yes. This one's going down for the ages. As one blogger put it, this very well might be a perfect film. On an unrelated note, is there anyone else who could fill the shoes of Daniel Plainview. My friends and I were joking on the ride home that Bill Murray would be an incredible casting choice.

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"look hard at what pleases you and even harder at what doesn't" ~ carolyn forche